Archive for January, 2009

I’ve been browsing through the reviews of Crayon Physics Deluxe. So far it’s all been positive, but I’ve noticed that some of reviewers and players are playing the game strictly as a standard puzzle game and they don’t like the sandboxiness and open ended nature of the puzzles. They don’t like that you can solve the levels any way you like. Which is really a shame, because coming up with creative solutions is what the game is really about. It’s not about finding just any solution or brute forcing it, the game is actually about finding the awesomest solution possible! That’s the reason why there are no limitations or restrictions in the game.

The puzzles in the game don’t have “right solutions” to them, there is no solution that the “designer intended you to take”, anything is possible and hopefully you’ll come up with the best one by yourself. The levels in the game are there to inspire you to be creative (and to teach you how to build up stuff). But it’s all my fault, because I didn’t communicate well enough what the game is really about.

Luckily a lot of the reviewers played the game as it should be played 🙂

The concept of risk/reward-based play is absent here; creativity proves to be its own reward. I challenge any one of you not to bellow (or squeal, if that’s more your thing) with glee after constructing a particularly elaborate solve out of crayon lines and curves. That’s really the game’s greatest triumph, allowing players to dictate the course of play using a simple yet powerful set of creation tools.

Many would have overlooked this game, marked it as just a simple, casual game for the casual gamers in the world. The truth is that this game is for anyone. It’s as complex and intelligent as you want to make it. Most of the levels can be beaten within a few minutes after you get the grasp of the situation and get the right angle. However, if you want to spend an hour or more building some Rube Goldberg-type contraption to get to the objective, then that is what you can do. I’m sure there are many people that just don’t understand the point of that.

What makes Crayon Physics so entertaining is that there are a number of different ways to solve each level, thanks to the fact that no one is going to draw the same things in exactly the same way. It requires players to be creative and solve each puzzle through whatever means they can conceive, as opposed to only having one convoluted method as the only solution.

Crayon Physics works the same way; the obvious route is the least rewarding. It’s just the route to take if you want to complete the level. Instead, if you decide you’re rather create a triple pulley system that allows you to erect an elevated bridge throughout the level, allowing you to glide down it to the star, you’ll be grinning with satisfaction as it all comes to fruition.

In any case, don’t let my musings on endless possibility give you the wrong impression; Crayon Physics Deluxe is a must-play. It’s the kind of game I get excited about, because the concept is just so much cooler than the stuff we see every day in gaming.

Crayon Physics (the prototype) lacked a bunch of features, because I locked myself out of my apartment and lost two days of development. I couldn’t get access to the computer that had the source code until June 1st (the release date).

Originally I started working on a bigger version of Pluto Strikes Back. It wasn’t until the second week of development that I decided to start working on Crayon Physics Deluxe. Reason for the swap was that I thought I could do Crayon Physics Deluxe during the summer. Oh boy was I wrong.

The only reason I started working on Crayon Physics Deluxe was to get a free pass to the Game Developers Conference. I figured that I could do something that I could submit to the Independent Games Festival and get in to the finals, because if you’re an IGF finalist you get a free GDC pass.

Crayon Physics Deluxe destroyed my education. When the summer of 2007 ended I took a 6 months break from school to finish the game. When the game made it to the IGF finals, I decided to take another 6 months break. After the summer of 2008 the game wasn’t still finished so I had to take another 6 months break and eventually another one this January. I doubt that they will allow me to finish my degree.

The name “Crayon Physics Deluxe” was picked when I was filling out the IGF submission form and it had an input field for the name of the game. I had to modify the title screen after submitting the game.

I was disappointed when Crayon Physics Deluxe won the grand prize at the IGF. I wanted World of Goo to win, because I think it’s a better game and because Kyle Gabler is my idol.

During GDC we stayed in the same hostel room with Phil Fish and Renaud Bédard, the developers of Fez

My mother wasn’t too impressed with Crayon Physics Deluxe, she told me that the game looked like a five year old made it. And I should have used a paper that wasn’t all wrinkled and I could have used a ruler to draw the lines so they would have been straight.